Radically Simple

KERE, Francis
München: Hatje Cantz, 2016.

More than almost any other architect, Diebedo Francis Kere (*1965 in Burkina Faso) represents the convergence of constructive, social, and cultural aspects of building. He has reseived numerous international prizes for the projects he has realized in his native country Burkina Faso, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004. Kere has furthermore made a name for himself in Germany with his projects for Christoph Schlingensief's Opera Village. In his architecture, Kere comines the training he reseived at the Technical University of Berlin with traditional African building methodes to create an innovative ne approach, focusing on local, social, and traditional requirements, as well as intergrating local communities into the process. High-quality aesthetics hold equal weight with his deep-seated ethical concerns in design. This first monograph on Kere's wide-ranging oeuvre provides a unique insight into the work of this extraordinary architect, demonstrating that architecture not only involves a building but also people.